Various tools have been created to remove ice and snow from vehicles. First, a traditional floor broom was used. Over time, snow removal tools became more sophisticated, combining a brush for snow removal and a scraper blade for ice/frost removal. Some snow removal tools also extend, pivot, and curve and can be made of metal, plastic, and wood.
Snow removal tools that have a brush mounted along a length-wise axis of an elongated handle are fairly easy to stow. Such axis-mounted snow removal tools may be swept side-to-side to remove snow from a vehicle. This side-to-side action works well if there is not a large amount of snow on the vehicle. However, with large amounts of snow and/or when removing snow from the roof of a car, this side-to-side action is not ideal. For example, the side-to-side motion used on the roof of a vehicle just moves the snow from the roof to a hood or trunk, requiring the snow to be moved twice in order to clean the vehicle.
Snow removal tools that have the brush mounted perpendicular to the length-wise axis of the elongated handle can be pushed and pulled forward and back to remove snow from a vehicle. This works well for removal of large amounts of snow, such as on the roof of the vehicle, by moving the snow off the roof onto the ground. However, perpendicularly-mounted brushes take up more space and are therefore more difficult to transport, display, and store in small spaces, such as glove boxes.
Snow removal tools with pivoting brush heads benefit from the advantages of both axis-mounted and perpendicular-mounted brushes, because the pivoting brush head can be shifted between the axial or perpendicular-to-the-handle positions. These pivoting brush heads typically use a spring-based detent to lock the brush in a given position. The use of a spring increases the number of parts and assembly labor required to manufacture the snow removal tool having this pivoting brush head. Furthermore, attempts at compressing the spring in a small space can lead to mechanical failure of the pivoting brush head.